White Chocolate Rose Cupcakes

I bring you some white chocolate rose cupcakes today my friends. Are you familiar with rose water? It's OK if you are not, I wasn't aware of its existence until a couple of months ago when I stumbled onto these cupcakes and couldn't wait to experiment. I bought the extract a while ago and have been shying away from using it after I took a strong whiff that put me off.

As with most things, except chocolate, less is more with this flavor. Thanks to an inspiring Mother's Day week by Joy the Baker, I was excited to try my rose water. I started with a simple vanilla yellow cake, infused with rose water, and topped with a white chocolate swiss meringue buttercream with a dash of rose water as well!

The rose water gives these cupcakes more of a scent, than a flavor. A wonderful floral smell that just makes you very happy as you bite into the cake (well, it made me happy at least!). Oh did I mention there are white chocolate chunks in the cupcake? Yummm!

I used these floral cupcakes on Sunday to celebrate some of the wonderful mothers in my life. A small treat to show them how much I appreciate and love them!

Chewy Toffee Bars

Nostalgia hit last week and I found myself thinking about my childhood and missing home. It's been so long since I've been home and had food from my mom's kitchen. This led me to thinking about (and missing) my dad, who would always bring home toffee after work and it was just the best treat ever!

To be honest, I have never been a 'sweet' kind of girl. I don't know why because my little sister is a chocolate magnet and yet we grew up in the same house. But for some reason, toffee is different. It was my go-to candy growing up.

 
Toffee, most commonly called English toffee in the US, has just the perfect amount of sweetness without being overly sweet. I've not had one in a very very long time and I was prepared to fix that.

So when I saw these chewy toffee bars in this month's Food Network Magazine, I knew I had to make them. Finding the toffee was the most difficult part of the recipe; I spent hours looking down candy aisles at different grocery stores. In the end, I found chopped pieces at a local frozen yogurt dessert bar (totally not kidding).

The recipe is pretty straightforward and it took only 20 minutes to assemble the ingredients, mix and get them into the oven. The resulting brownie-like bar was chewy, crunchy, perfectly sweet, and brought back to so many happy memories!

Six-Layer Chocolate Cake with Toasted Marshmallow Filling and Malted Chocolate Frosting

Celebrations always call for chocolate. I made this cake last weekend for a dear friend who just landed her dream job!!!... in San Diego :(. And there is no better way to say "I am so happy for you" and "I'm going to terribly miss you" than a super moist chocolate cake.

Did I mention this friend of mine was the one who introduced me to baking?? Yeah, I made my first cake in her kitchen using her Kitchenaid and baking supplies. She was so kind and laughed gently as I sprayed the cake pan and splattered PAM all over my face and her counter :). I am very grateful!!

I first saw this cake on Sweetapolita's recipe index a year ago and recently Brown Eyed Baker recreated it for her birthday. I knew I had to try it and this occasion was the perfect time.  I needed a WOW cake and this cake delivered!

Let's discuss the cake. It's six-layers of very rich chocolate cake enriched with hot coffee which makes for a moist cake. Then, the cake is filled with a toasted marshmallow frosting made with crunchy toasted marshmallows, butter and marshmallow cream. Such goodness!!  The malted flavor in the chocolate frosting was achieved by adding Ovaltine (who knew???) and it complimented the chocolate so well.

This is the best cake I have made so far!!!

And I am glad it was for this occasion. I am so happy for my friend and so proud of her great achievement. I will undoubtedly miss her and her baby so much but on the bright side...I now have San Diego on my vacation list and can't wait to visit!

Piña Colada Cupcakes

For those of us living in the North East, spring is not yet here. It was a miserable week with lake effect snow still coming down in April.

During all the snow brushing, it occurred to me that I haven't had mixed frozen drinks in 7 months!!! My last frozen drink was consumed on our honeymoon in Jamaica last September when I had 5 to 6 to 7 piña coladas a day (who was counting?). Needless to say piña coladas are my favorite frozen drink and it always bring back memories of paradise...which does not include snow.

These cupcakes were made to rectify that sad fact and wish this winter away. Positive thoughts is all it takes to keep the snow away, right?

I adapted a piña colada cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It's a pineapple-coconut cupcake with coconut cream cheese frosting. Yes, coconut again!! Clearly I have an issue when it comes to coconut...but it's so yummy and I can't help myself!

These cupcakes bring back lots of summer memories that I can now hold on to until spring arrives! Paired with my favorite frozen drink, any lingering winter blues will be washed away!

NOTES

• Cupcake liners: Wilton Color cups bought from Michael's

• Cake stands: Bed Bath & Beyond, TJ Maxx and Marshall's (respectively)

• Since this is a learning blog, I need to share the things that I struggle with. I had a lot of issues with photographing these cupcakes: sunlight was too much at some point, then it became cloudy really fast and I monkeyed with my camera settings and created the 'yellowish' hue you see in the pictures. Spent some time on Photoshop trying to fix them, but it didn't exactly work. I'm going to spend some time this week reading up on using Photoshop for edits and also find other alternatives.

Coconut Almond Cake {and a little Announcement}

As I was preparing for this week's class on stacking cakes, I couldn't help but think of our recent wedding cake. Venturing down memory lane, it seemed as if the wedding cake was the easiest decision we made. Mr. J was very interested in partaking in this aspect, more so than in making the DIY card box or pocketfold invitations. In the end, we decided that I would be in charge of the exterior aesthetics of the cake while he took care of the inside.

After several hours on Pinterest, I decided on this (left; photo credit: weddingchannel.com) four-layered round cake for our wedding cake. I liked that it was simple and elegant as that was the theme of our entire wedding. Our flowers would be fuchsia pink sugar roses and we would have a cake topper instead of the floral bouquet.

Photo credit:  Vanessa Finch Photography

Our cake (right; photo credit @ Finch Photography) turned out beautiful! And it was exactly what I wanted. A family friend bakes and designs beautiful cakes and I am happy we asked her (Thanks Jolene! You can find her here). After several cake tastings, the hubby decided on a lemon cake with raspberry filling for the bottom layer, chocolate cake with chocolate ganache for the second and for the top cake he went with a coconut almond cake. All were very great combinations and I'm sure they tasted great on the day...but I wouldn't know since I didn't eat any.

So back to the cake stacking class that started this reminiscing. I was inspired by our wedding cake and decided to recapitulate it for this project. For the cakes, I made two 10" cakes for the bottom layer and two 6" cakes for the top. Both cakes were frosted with my go-to swiss meringue buttercream (SMB) with lime zest and lemon extract. The bottom cake is a new recipe that I'm sharing below. It's a coconut almond cake that I experimented with and it turned out moist and amazing!

For the floral arrangements, I made pink gumpaste roses and fondant leaves earlier in the week (while watching Criminal minds... I love that show!). I went for a much simpler piping design than our original wedding cake. After all, I'm only just starting and not a pro. In the end, I think the piping has lots of room for improvement and I will be working on that more. The roses turned out great and I am in love with them.

The small cake is also a test recipe for a purple velvet cake. Why purple? It has to do with my little announcement. I was asked to design and set-up a dessert table at a bridal shower this summer! I am super excited (and secretly scared...shh) and honored that the maid-of-honor hosting the shower (ahemmm Trista!) trusts me to pull this off. 

I am testing several variations for this purple velvet she requested and once I nail the recipe, I will share it here. Needless to say, there will be lots of posts on this first gig as we get closer to the summer. There are so many ideas racing through my mind and I am spending lots of hours on Pinterest trying to figure out how to bring them all to life on one small table.

Rose Cake {Ombre}

I came home this Friday to dinner on the table, a bottle of my favorite wine and flowers. It was our six months wedding anniversary and the hubby was celebrating. He is just too good!! Obviously, the date totally escaped me and I was not prepared as he was. I can't believe 6 months just went by this quick.

So, I decided to bake him a cake the next day in return. The roses he brought home inspired this last minute cake. I've seen the idea bounce around Pinterest for a while now and I figured I should give it a try. See my two favorites here and here. I figured it would only help improve my piping techniques or it could be a total disaster. Either way, Mr J will have a cake to enjoy.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream

There have been lots of things happening in my blogging development this week. Since my experiments in lab are acting up, I am indulging more into baking!

First, I successfully made basic or 'American' buttercream. It has only four ingredients and should be very straight forward. But it is not. At least not in my hands. It comes out thin and UN-pipeable. After several tries, this recipe (below) did the trick.

My Momma in the US was coming up to visit this weekend and I wanted to make her some cupcakes to take back with her. She loves peanut butter and chocolate and that was exactly what I made. The chocolate cake and frosting recipes are from Krissy's Creations. The frosting was light, fluffy and extremely easy to pipe. Definitely a keeper!


The second accomplishment of the week was the start of a cake stand collection. I have always wanted pretty cake stands and so I went hunting this Friday for one at Marshalls/Home Goods where to my surprise the options were limitless.

  

I loved these white ones and had to get the set of three so I could use it as a cupcake stand too. Totally makes sense! And I had to get this pink one, the scalloped edge is just so beautiful.

At the end of the night, I ended up with 5 and I was in cake stand bliss. I told the hubby to consider getting me cake stands when he thinks I deserve flowers. I hope he listens because there are endles options at T.J. Maxx as well (rumor has it). 

And finally, I started experimenting on picture-taking techniques. Played around with some colored background and lighting  (even though it was a very cloudy day today). Loved the way the pictures turned out.

Valentine's Day {Baking Anniversary}

Love is in the air and it is all about hearts. Chocolate cookie hearts, red velvet hearts, red and pink hearts!! Cupid's symbol all over.

Here at Blahnik Baker, it is also my 'baking' anniversary. I baked my first cake ever a year ago in my friend Chrissa's kitchen, seen here. It was a small step at the time that now looks like a giant leap!

In honor of Valentine's day and this anniversary, I decided to recreate this cake again. The cake inspired this blog and I think it deserves a comeback. And because just baking a cake doesn't seem like a challenge anymore, I decided to make some cookies and decorate them!!

The red velvet cake is a recipe from Sprinkle Bakes. 

I used heart shaped pans this time and the heart came out looking like a heart lol! I decided not to do the crumb coat, just for something different.

For the cookies, I used this chocolate roll out cookie recipe from Glorious Treats since chocolate and Valentine's day seem to be synonymous.

Chocolate Cake {Super Bowl XLVII}

Be warned, this is not a post about football. It is about a chocolate cake. I just used the Superbowl as an excuse to bake and decorate a cake (like I need an occasion, right?)

My next project after these perfect vanilla cupcakes was to hunt for a good chocolate cake recipe. I don't care much for chocolate...yes I know it is insane, but it's just not my thing. However, I knew as a budding baker, I should have a go-to chocolate cake recipe under my belt.

Well, I am glad to say that I have found the one!

 

Mr. J and I just moved into a new apartment and our friends were so helpful on that cold January day. I wanted to send them some cupcakes along with our thank-you cards. And I also wanted to bake a football-themed cake.

I found this cake recipe from Ina Garten and I made a double batch.  I was able to get two 8' square cakes and 36 cupcakes, killing two birds with one stone.  I used my favorite go-to frosting; a Swiss Meringue buttercream, with a chocolate addition. This cake is moist, rich, fluffy and yet not too sweet.

 'It is the best chocolate I have ever had' - Mr J.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

After several weeks of trying vanilla cupcake recipes, I am happy to share that I have found the ONE. This recipe gives a flavorful vanilla cake that is moist but yet light and fluffy. It is simple and I love it. It will become my go-to vanilla cake. The recipe is from Glory of Glorious Treats.

I have been taking the Wilton decorating courses. In Course II, we are learning how to make flowers with royal icing and it is difficult. But I am sure with lots of practice I will get the hang of things.

Back to the star of this post, the vanilla cupcakes!! They are the best and I will be re-making them soon again.

Holiday Baking

The holiday season is upon us...Merry Christmas! This is our first married Christmas together and I love our Christmas tree.

Being an avid fan of Pinterest, I had a lot of ideas for what my holiday baking list should entail but I kept it simple. I started with some simple sugar cookies from Better Homes and Gardens and these gingerbread cookies. I followed the recipes as close as possible and the cookies turned out great.

I attempted to decorate the cookies as well and I spent a lot of time watching videos and reading blogs on how-to decorate cookies. I went simple again, using a standard royal icing recipe (below) and made two different consistencies (piping and flooding) for each color and took a shot at it.

Can I say not bad for the first time???  I was very proud of them being my first take on decorating cookies. I will definitely need to practice more in the future. 

Finally, I made these peppermint bark brownies and some peanut butter chocolate balls for my husband. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures before I packaged them up.

I sent holiday treat bags to my new in-laws, friends and family. I was very happy they all enjoyed the sweets!

Now I have to decide what to make tomorrow for Christmas dinner at my sister-in-law's.

Happy Holidays again!